YEREVAN. - The Armenian authorities are trying to use the arrest and a preventive measure against Armenian National Congress (ANC) activist Tigran Arakelyan as a means of pressure and bargaining, ANC Coordinator Levon Zurabyan told a press conference on Friday. He stressed that the authorities’ attitude prove Arakelyan is a political prisoner.

According to Zurabyan, in this regard the dialogue between the Armenians government and opposition turns into bargaining over political prisoners: “During the 5th round of negotiations, the authorities assured us a preventive measure against the activists will be changed and the legal system will work without any discrimination with respect to both activists and police. We offered the authorities to release ANC activists in exchange for guarantees, however, they did not keep their pledge. And what would this step change? Since the delegation of the ruling coalition held bad positions in the negotiation process, it was their only chance to exert pressure on the ANC. Naturally, we will not be involved in this process,” Zurabyan noted.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, 7 ANC activists were detained on August 9, around 10:00 p.m. from Northern Avenue of Yerevan downtown. The Court of Appeals of Armenia released two young activists of opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), who were arrested during the incident on August 9. The court upheld the detention of the third activist Tigran Arakelyan, freeing Artak Karapetyan and Sargis Gevorgyan.